The Disney-DeSantis feud has many in the community constantly speculating on the impact this will have on pop culture and legal outcomes in the United States. The fight is one that was surprising when it came to pass when the entertainment giant, the Walt Disney Company, took on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a battle for free speech where the company asserts the Florida Governor is infringing on their right and is punishing them for speaking out about the “Don’t Say Gay” law in the Sunshine State. On the other hand, DeSantis is using the Disney fight to further his presidential campaign.
Related: DeSantis Fight Weakened Disney More Than You Think
Disney vs. DeSantis
After former Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke out about the “Don’t Say Gay” law (officially called the Parental Rights in Education Act), Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took the Walt Disney Company to task and took steps to ensure that a big corporation like Disney didn’t get special treatment in the state of Florida. From initially threatening to dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District to replacing the former board with hand-picked DeSantis appointees to what is now a bitter court battle that DeSantis has tried to avoid, it’s been a whirlwind rollercoaster of events and developments.
Many analysts and politicians, including former POTUS Donald Trump, have condemned DeSantis, even calling him “not a conservative” for how he’s handled the Disney feud.
Chief US District Judge Makes Controversial Injunction
However, a recent move by a Trump-appointed federal judge might mean that the Disney vs. DeSantis case is now a “solid” and “open and shut” case for the Walt Disney Company.
Chief U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana, Terry Doughty, blocked the US Dept. of Health and Human Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among others, from “working with social media companies to combat posts on a wide range of topics, from child pornography to election, COVID, and vaccine misinformation,” on July 4.
The injunction bars “key Biden administration agencies and officials from meeting and communicating with social media companies about ‘protected speech,’ in an extraordinary preliminary injunction in an ongoing case that could have profound effects on the First Amendment,” according to The Washington Post.
A Silver Lining for Disney
While many have condemned the injunction stating many reasons it could be dangerous, civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill, the former President and Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), a Senior Fellow at the Ford Foundation, and a professor of law at Howard University shared that it could majorly benefit the Walt Disney Company.
She shared in a Twitter thread that she hoped Disney was “reading the decision carefully.”
I hope that Disney is reading the decision carefully. Cause by this analysis they have a solid First Amend claim against Ron DeSantis. Open & shut.
She added, “The evidence cited by the judge doesn’t add up to govt censorship. Unless the govt is muzzled from calling out disinformation or reaching out to corporate leaders during a global emergency to ask for care & caution,” while referencing the legislation.
However, considering a large part of Disney’s case includes government censorship, this injunction could serve them well in the future.
